


From Dove to Phoenix to Dust

by orphan_account



Series: The Days After [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Burning, M/M, Phoenix - Freeform, Sadness, burned alive, dead, little dove, shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 22:02:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8639890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Alternate Universe:What if Grillby didn't die? But someone else did?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Up then, fair phoenix bride, frustrate the sun;  
> Thyself from thine affection  
> Takest warmth enough, and from thine eye  
> All lesser birds will take their jollity.  
> Up, up, fair bride, and call  
> Thy stars from out their several boxes, take  
> Thy rubies, pearls, and diamonds forth, and make  
> Thyself a constellation of them all;  
> And by their blazing signify  
> That a great princess falls, but doth not die.  
> Be thou a new star, that to us portends  
> Ends of much wonder; and be thou those ends.  
> -John Donne

“That's good. Sans, are you okay?”

_ “Y-” _

“SHUT UP SHUT UP!!” Leon screeched. A loud bang sounded.

Grillby widened his eyes. Sans choked, blood spreading across his chest, staring helplessly at Grillby.

“No no no no no no NO!” Grillby ran, ignoring Leon who stared at him, frozen. He gripped Sans’ arms, kneeling down. His fire melted the cuffs easily and he pulled Sans into a hug. “Sans? Dove, it’s gonna be alright. Where…”

He pulled the shirt up and choked back a sob. A crack spread over Sans’ scarred soul, getting deeper, longer. A hole had appeared in his ribs, right through his soul. 

_ “G...Grillby…”  _

“Dove, don’t talk okay? Just.. I’ll… Sans… I…”

Sans licked his lips, blood spilling and staining his teeth.

“Did I… Did I… save… you? Paps…”

“Yes you did Sans you did… He’s alive. I’m alive. You have to be too... You did the best… Comeon dove. Don’t…” His eyelights flickered and Grillby pressed a kiss on his lips.

“Sans… Sans wake up. I can’t do this. I can’t lose you again.”

“I...I’m not… not scared anymore…” Sans blinked, gasping as his soul thudded once. Twice. Weakening with each beat.

“Come on dove don’t fall asleep okay? I’m here… I’m here always.”

“P-promise?”

“Yes dove. Sealed even…”

Then he pressed a kiss, hot tears spilling down both their cheeks. He tasted blood and dust but he didn’t care. Their fingers intertwined, rings seeming to lose their glow as Sans fingers went limp. Grillby tightened his hand around Sans’, brushing a finger over the dust covered skull, wiping away a tear. The last tear he would ever wipe away. Then, Sans faded away, his soul cracking from top to bottom, and with a snap, dusted.

Grillby choked, gasping as his hands went empty, holding on to a loose empty jacket. 

“Sans… dove? Dove… talk to me… come back… I just got you… I had you.” He buried his head in the jacket, trying to drink in the already fading scent of Sans. 

A clatter of a gun on tiles made him raise his head. He turned around, sadness and fury flickering in his flames.

“You did this! YOU!!” Fire exploded from his feet, racing towards Leon. Leon yelped as it wrapped around his legs, trapping him. Each step Grillby took left behind a trail of flame. A line of flames materialized in Grillby’s hands, creating a whip. 

“You disgusting creature! How DARE you!” The whip cracked down across Leon’s arm, burning through cloth, searing flesh. Fire burned in the open wound and Leon thrashed, screaming. 

“You hurt him! You! You think you were the one being hurt?”

Another stripe of boiling blood appeared right across the other.

“You know nothing about us! Nothing about Sans! All he ever wanted was to live peacefully with his brother!”

“But you wouldn’t let him! You just kept taking!”

Fire burned over Leon’s arms and legs. Somehow, it didn’t burn his flesh, only giving him a sensation like he was lying in hell.

“You took him. Took his joy. Took his laughter. Took his magic. Took everything he owned. And then he took his light. You took his brother! And that wasn’t enough for you, was it you thieving murderer? You took his life!”

Fire raged around Leon, burning his insides, his outsides. He screamed in pain, writhing in pain. Grillby struck with the whip, each crack landing precise, never in the same spot.

“Tell me. Do you enjoy pain?”

Leon sobbed, the hot tears bubbling and searing his flesh, leaving behind a tearshaped burn.

“What did you do to Papyrus?”

Leon jerked, gasping and screaming.

“Tell me. WHAT. DID. YOU. DO!?”

“I… I thought he was… That he was the little who-”

“DON’T YOU DARE SPEAK OF SANS THAT WAY.” A lash across his lips and Leon screamed but clamped his mouth shut when it hurt the fresh wound.

“I-I thought h-he was Sans… B-but when I saw that h-he wasn’t wearing the… the D.R033… So I… I shot him… I didn’t know. I-I”

Grillby clenched his fist and the lash across his lips burned away the flesh. 

“You think you deserve this?”

Leon gagged, howling, shaking his head. A lash came down on his neck and it burned at the skin.

“Do you? You better think again you freak! You stole and kill and rape and torture! You took away my dove! He was MINE! You HAD NO RIGHT!!”

Grillby pulled Leon to his feet, burning the man. 

“Y-Yes! I deserved it I-!”

A scream erupted from Leon’s lips as fire exploded from inside him. He burned on the inside out until he was nothing but ashes. Grillby watched, remorseless, anger and sorrow fueling him. He turned around, tears slipping down his cheeks, burning away. He walked over to the chair, picking up the jacket. He let himself cry freely, choking and sobbing.

“And just as the Phoenix rose from the ashes, she too will rise, returning from flames clothed in nothing but her strength... more beautiful than ever before. Combustus sed numquam deletus”

 And then he sank to his knees nuzzling it and pressing it to his lips over and over, tears falling. 

"Come back my dove.Come back."

\---

Grillby climbed to his feet, drained. Days had passed. He knew not how many. He gathered all the dust, walking out of the warehouse. He wore a dark blue bloodied jacket instead of his usual leather one. Two rings glinted on his fingers.  He took half of the ashes in one hand, blowing it. It exploded, floating out into the air.

For a second, he thought he saw Sans, waving and laughing before he turned his back to Grillby, taking off in a run. Grillby raced after him but he disappeared. A second later, he saw the outline of a dove flapping away, disappearing into the sky.

_ Thank you... _

"Fly free my dove. Find happiness wherever you are..." He closed his hand over the remaining ashes, a tear falling.


End file.
